A. Related Applications
There are no applications related hereto heretofore filed in this or any foreign country.
B. Field of Invention
My invention relates generally to self-loading trailers for hauling agricultural bins and particularly to such a trailer that lowers the rear portion for loading without raising the forward portion.
C. Description of the Prior Art
In the agricultural arts, especially in the Western United States, it has become common to contain freshly harvested agricultural products immediately upon harvest in large boxes or bins located in or immediately adjacent the harvest area. These bins are approximately four feet square on their base and have a vertical height of two to four feet. The bins are normally supported on the earth in the harvest area during their course of filling.
Such bins are used especially in the harvest of oranges, apples and other soft fruit. The bins, once filled, are transported with their contained product to processing or packing areas, and in some cases are even used to transport product to an ultimate retailer. These bins are commonly transported by trailers of various sorts.
As the use of such containers has grown, transport trailers for them have become more sophisticated to provide various features that make their use easier and more simple. Particularly, in the past, such trailers have provided mechanical means to aid the picking up and loading of bins thereon without any required manual manipulation. The pickup and loading functions have generally been accomplished with two-wheeled trailers having opposed wheels medially mounted on an elongate rigid frame commonly formed with lateral beams. Chain-type conveyers have been provided, with a course moving forwardly on the upper surface of the trailer's lateral beams, to move bins therealong as desired. Commonly such trailers are not self-powered but are moved by means of an auxiliary prime mover such as a wheel-type tractor, and in this instance trailer systems generally have been powered by the hydraulic system of that tractor.
To pick up a bin, the rearwardmost portion of the trailer is lowered to approximately the elevation of the earth supporting a bin and the trailer is then manipulated by its propelling vehicle to a position where the bin is centered longitudinally relatively to the trailer. The bin is then moved onto the trailer by activation of the conveyer system on the lateral beams.
In the known art trailers that have been used in this type of operation have generally been of a compound nature with two frames or partial frames that move relative to each other. Such trailers have had a first or tongue frame which provides means for attachment to a prime mover. This first frame generally remains relatively positionally stable to a second frame that is pivotably mounted relative thereto so that its rearward portion may be lowered and as a necessary incident, its forward portion raised. The wheel structure of such a trailer may be carried by either portion. Such trailers that have become known generally have provided some upstanding structural element to mechanically move one frame relative to the other. This type of trailer makes it difficult for an operator of a vehicle propelling the trailer to see the rear portion of the trailer for proper trailer positioning relative to a bin to be loaded since either some trailer part or bins already on the trailer will block the operator's view when the elements be raised as an incident of trailer operation.
My instant trailer alleviates this problem by providing a bell-crank type mounting for the supporting wheels of a bin trailer such that the rearwardmost portion of the trailer may be lowered by raising the wheel structure relative to the trailer. This type of operation firstly allows the use of a unitary frame that is not of a compound nature to allow the structure of the trailer to be lighter, stronger, of cheaper manufacture and more maintenance free. Secondly my trailer does not raise any of its forward portions or contents thereon during the bin loading operation, but rather lowers the forward as well as the rearward portion of the trailer and anything carried thereon below a normal operating level to provide more unobstructed vision for an operator during the loading operation to allow him to better and more easily manipulate the trailer relative to a bin to be loaded, and to perform this operation without second party assistance.
My invention resides not in any of these structural elements or functions per se but rather in the synergetic combination of all of the structures and functions disclosed and claimed.